Adrian Clayborn’s six-sack performance for Atlanta in a 27-7 win over Dallas last week has a lot of Seahawks fans crossing their fingers that Duane Brown can play Monday.
Clayborn’s six were one off the record set by Derrick Thomas in 1990 — against Seattle. But do you remember how that game turned out? Maybe Russell Wilson can channel a little Dave Krieg, if needed:
The Seahawks say they aim to be the best scrambling offense in the NFL — so it figures that’s what they’re doing this week: Scrambling once again to fix their offense.
The trade for Duane Brown, an excellent if belated move to shore up left tackle, and the decision to ride one running back are steps that should have been taken long ago. These moves at this late date are emblematic of Pete Carroll’s offense: They never seem to have a good plan.
It looks, unfortunately, like Cliff Avril’s career is finished.
Pete Carroll told SiriusXM NFL Radio that the Seahawks are going to put Avril on injured reserve, meaning his season probably is over. Carroll said the 31-year-old is “seeing a bunch of doctors, seriously looking at a big decision.”
If he can’t play now, despite apparently feeling fine after suffering a stinger against the Colts, why would he return off IR in eight weeks or come back at all in 2018? Carroll previously said tests “showed some stuff” — and the IR move indicates that “stuff” was serious enough to shut down one of Seattle’s top defenders.
Avril told Yahoo Sports he is not thinking of retiring right now and that the “big decision” is whether to undergo neck surgery.
But Michael Bennett made it sound very much like Avril, who is in his 10th NFL season, knows he needs to retire.
John Schneider set such a high standard in his first three drafts, it would be nearly impossible to match. So it’s no surprise that he hasn’t.
According to an excellent study put together by The Washington Post using Pro Football Reference’s Approximate Value (AV) rating, Schneider’s 2012 draft was the best in 20 years — as measured against expected value (EV). And his 2011 draft was fourth on that list.
That clearly was an impossible level to sustain.
As Schneider joked Monday: “How come that doesn’t happen anymore? What’s your problem, dude?”
The problem was how far the Seahawks dipped for a couple of years. And the hope is the 2016 and 2017 draft classes will bring them out of the slump.
Pete Carroll has said he wants to create continuity on Seattle’s offensive line.
He said he thinks Seattle’s young guys are going to improve and he hopes Luke Joeckel becomes part of the core. As he said after Joeckel signed, “Now that we have a good young bunch of guys, we’re going to try to keep this thing together.”
It’s debatable whether they have enough good guys yet, but the bigger question as pertains to Carroll’s stated goal: Will they ever be able to keep a quintet together in Tom Cable’s zone blocking system using their scattershot approach?
Whether it’s bad drafting, a bad scheme or just bad luck, Carroll’s Seahawks have had terrible fortune on the offensive line — typically fielding one of the weaker units in the NFL and annually needing to overcome its deficiencies just to get to the playoffs.
Why has it been so terrible? John Schneider and the coaches have consistently pointed to the disconnect between college and NFL offenses and the CBA-mandated lack of practice time.
But every team faces those issues. For Seattle, it has been more than that. It has been a complete inability to field a healthy, consistent line — and a total failure to set up a line of succession.
Continue reading Are Hawks capable of building a talented, consistent O-line?
Not crying any tears for Raiders fans.
The Raiders’ pending move out of Oakland reminds me of my dad’s story from his ill-advised visit to the Coliseum for a Seahawks-Raiders game back in the early 2000s:
As he and my mom walked through the parking lot to the stadium, the air was filled with the stench of marijuana and other gag-inducing odors. Tailgating for Raiders games is apparently one big bong fest.
As my dad watched the game in the first half, the thug behind him kept spitting his chaw onto the back of Dad’s Seahawks shirt. What kind of a lowlife does that to a 60-year-old man?
I asked him why he didn’t get security to toss the miscreant out or have him arrested for assault. He said “security” had no interest in wading into the stands, where they would have been pummeled by drug-addled roughneck Raider fans.
At halftime, Dad took off the shirt and threw it away (fortunately, it was a sunny day) — then went and found seats where he wouldn’t be assaulted. I suspect that was a pretty tough task.
Enjoy the Raiders, Vegas!
The two hefty takeaways from the Seahawks’ signing of Eddie Lacy were: (1) They want him to pound the ball; (2) they want him to drop some pounds first.
To that end, the team instituted $385,000 in weight clauses for the running back — giving him specific targets from May through the season.
As Pete Carroll said, “We have a real plan for this or we wouldn’t have done it.”
Weight clauses are nothing new in the NFL, but the way they are handled certainly has changed — for teams like Seattle anyway.
Continue reading Seahawks aren’t nearly as naïve about weight as they once were
The league owners meetings next week are in Phoenix, which is apropos considering a couple of the proposed rule changes come right out of a game last season between the Arizona Cardinals and the Seahawks.
In that game, Bobby Wagner did his best Kam Chancellor imitation, leaping over the line to block a field goal. The teams ended up playing the full 15-minute overtime and finishing in a tie — the first of two NFL ties last season.
That game provided a lot of impetus for the NFL competition committee’s proposal to ban leaping and cut overtime to 10 minutes.
The Seahawks now have their Hall of Fame Mount Rushmore.
Over the weekend, Kenny Easley joined Steve Largent, Cortez Kennedy and Walter Jones as the only career Seahawks in the Hall of Fame.
Easley and Jimbo Covert (Bears) were the only players from the NFL’s Team of the 1980s who were not in the Hall. Thanks to the seniors nomination, Easley finally got in.
Continue reading With Easley in the Hall, Hawks have their Mount Rushmore
In Week 16 of the 2013 season, the Seahawks lost at home to Arizona — putting the pressure on to clinch the No. 1 seed in Week 17. They did that and then went on to win the Super Bowl.
This season was set up to be a carbon copy of 2013, but just about the only thing that has followed 2013 form has been the Week 16 home loss to Arizona.
Unlike 2013, this Seattle team has no shot at the No. 1 seed. And it needs help to claim a bye. In fact, this crew will be lucky to win the one home playoff game it is guaranteed.
Continue reading Hawks show no signs of being Super this year
CHAWK TALK: Everything being said about the Seahawks 